Stumbo Reacts to Beshear's Budget

House Speaker Greg Stumbo says he expects to change little of Governor Steve Beshear’s budget this session. Speaking to reporters after Beshear gave his budget address Tuesday night, Stumbo said times are tough, and there's little the governor could change in his proposal to please lawmakers.

“So I don’t think there’s gonna be a whole lot of changing in the budget," Stumbo said. "I won’t say that we won’t take a hard look at it and find something that we question and we typically do, but I think this one probably will be more likely to be accepted pretty much in total than perhaps any budget I’ve ever seen since I’ve been here.

Beshear is proposing 8.4 percent cuts to most state agencies. And higher education is getting a 6.4 percent cut. But other areas, like Medicaid, preschool and SEEK education funding aren't cut. And the road budget funds projects across the state.

Senate President David Williams wasn’t available for comment after Beshear’s speech, so it is yet to be seen if the state Senate, controlled by Republicans, feels the same way as the Democratic majority in the House.